Assignment 2: The International Business Environment

Submit Assignment 2 at the end of Lesson 6.

Introduction

In this module, you explored economic and socioeconomic, physical and environmental, socio-cultural, political, and legal forces and their influence on business. These are important forces to consider when expanding or establishing operations in a foreign country or investigating opportunities to target new markets in the global economy.

In this assignment, you will refer back to the activities you completed throughout this module, and use the lists and information you compiled in those activities in order to conduct research on the appropriate country/countries in which to establish your new business venture. The goal of this assignment is to identify two or three countries for further analysis.

There are four parts: A (30 marks), B (30 marks), C (25 marks), and D (15 marks), for a total of 100 marks. This assignment will contribute 10% of your final course grade.

InstructionsPart A: Assessing Environmental Forces (30 Marks)

Write a 4- to 6-page report (1,000 to 1,500 words, double-spaced) with the following:

1. Conduct a preliminary assessment of geographic, social-cultural, political, legal, and economic factors that create international business opportunities or constraints facing the product or service that you have identified for your new international business.
2. Using the information you have collected above, identify five to seven countries that you believe are potential targets for location of your business venture and briefly defend your selections.

Part B: Applying the SMART Model (30 Marks)

Apply the Simple Multiple-Attribute Rating Technique (SMART) model for the five to seven countries that you have selected as potential locations for your new international business venture, This model requires you to determine key factors that will influence your decision, to assign values for each criteria for each country and then to compare them in a numerical matrix to indicate the “best fit” for your product or service.

1. Read the material on the SMART model in Appendix A of this assignment.
2. Create a table and apply the SMART model. Select at least five important criteria that you identified in Part A of this assignment for the location of your international business venture. You should have a minimum of five criteria to apply the SMART model for each of the five to seven countries you identified.
3. Using the results of application of the SMART model and based on the above criteria, select two countries that you believe are good potential host countries for your international business and clearly explain why these countries have the best potential.

Part C: Select Two Countries for Review (25 Marks)

Write a brief proposal (1-page or 250 words, double-spaced) to:

1. Select two countries for review. Explain your rationale.

Note on the selection of countries:

At this time, you are required to select two countries that you believe are appropriate for location of your international business venture. For the remainder of the assignments (and in your Major Project), you will investigate these countries as part of the research and analysis for your international business venture. You may identify additional countries but will earn no extra marks for investigating more than two countries. If you feel you cannot limit your selection to two countries, you may discuss this with your Open Learning Faculty Member. Bear in mind that one of these countries will become the focus of the in-depth country profile you develop for your Major Project.

Part D: Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges (15 Marks)

Write a 2-page report (500 words, double-spaced) with the following:

• Summarize the information gathered in this assignment as it relates to forces influencing global business; briefly highlight the opportunities, challenges, and constraints for the potential success of internationalizing your product or service as they relate to the environmental forces in these countries.

Journal Reflection 1 (5% of your final course grade)

Completion Guidelines

The journal reflection requires you to look back at your journalling and to reflect on your learning experience. Consider the following reflective questions:

1. Did the topics for reflection and the ideas and information you explored influence your understanding of or perspective on international business?
2. Did your ideas and views shift as you progressed through the course?
3. If you participated in the Student Café, did the contributions of other learners influence you and help enrich your knowledge of international business?
4. If you participated in the Student Café, did you agree with everything others posted there?Write 1 to 2 pages (approximately 500 words) reviewing your journalling activity in the course. Include the above reflective questions and what you have learned from the reflective topics. Document your best journal reflections and/or contribution to the discussions and describe briefly what you have learned from the postings of other learners. You may include highlights from other activities and the course in general.

For further reading about journalling, please read Appendix C.

General Completion Checklist

• Be sure to save your assignment as a Word document and name it IBUS3511_A1_YOURLASTNAME.docx
• Have you scanned the documents for viruses?
• Have you completed all the required elements?
• Have you used information and terminology learned in this course?
• Did you support your statements with specific examples and external resources?
• Do you cite references, using correct APA referencing format?
• Is your report grammatically correct, clear, and well organized?
• Do you demonstrate your ability to evaluate sources of information?
• Submit your Assignment 1 through the “Assignments” link.

Appendix A: The SMART Model

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